The Many Adventures of Keira!: Visiting The Family

The past week or so has been such a whirlwind! Keira and I headed out to Illinois to visit with Auntie Gigi, Max and Doowa (Lola, my mom). I have been a little worried about how Keira would handle the flight, but she did so great! Dan had to stay behind to work, so he dropped us off at the Airport early in the morning. I was able to get everything for both of us in 2 carryons and already had the boarding passes printed out and ready to go. I thought I had it made until Keira wanted me to carry her everywhere. "Mommy! Carry Yooooouuuu!" That is how she asks me to carry her. I think it's from me saying "Do you want Mommy to Carry You?" LOL. I've been trying to get her to say "carry ME" instead...but it's just so darn cute how she says it! She wasn't quite getting it all until we started to board the plane. She buckled herself in and was really getting excited! She didn't cry for a second through the entire flight and really enjoyed herself. She watched a little of Cinderella and mainly looked at the clouds from the window or played Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo DS. I don't normally like her playing with it, but hey...it made for a nice flight! We had such a great time. I love going back to Illinois for Halloween. It really feels like Fall with the change of weather and colors and everyone really gets into the spirit with their decorations. This year was a Star Wars Theme and Max and Gigi decided that they wanted Keira to be Yoda. I promised Dan that she would also get to dress as a princess for the second round as well.

Here is Yoda! Princess Yoda that is. Rose, Gigi's sister in law put the purple flower antennae on her so that she would be Princess Yoda instead. Dan said that it wasn't a Yoda costume, but she looked more like a green pig in a bathrobe or Ted Kennedy- Think dirty bathrobe and a bottle of Scotch. He's nuts. Max and the cousins Caleb, Allie, Josh and Jacob were all dressed as Star Wars characters as well. Rose was even Padme Amidala! LOL We got to spend some time with the Fisher Family as well which is always wonderful. Mr. Fisher and I talked Politics and Jon (Chris' younger brother) flew the kids around like planes. They really were high up in the air considering that he's 6'7" tall! He however was protesting the Star Wars theme. He refused to be part of there not only being 2 Anakin Skywalkers, but there also being a separate Darth Vader in the same plane and space. How is that even possible??? LOL Funny thing was that a couple of people when we were out trick or treating asked how it was possible as well! Come on now all you Star Wars freaks! :)

The second time around, Max was Speed Racer and Keira was dressed as Sleeping Beauty. There was a little button on the side that you pushed and the whole skirt of the dress lit up with flickering blue, purple and white lights. She was tired and wanted to ride around in Max's Radio Flyer wagon. Allie was wonderful and pulled her around. Allie put on one of Max's shirts and was Max for Halloween the second round LOL. Keira was turning her lights on, so while riding around in the wagon, she looked like the Disney Electric Light Parade! LOL

We did a little bit of karaoke afterwards and here is Keira singing her Princess songs. She was really belting it out which kind of surprised me. I thought that she might be a little shy singing in front of everyone, but she just got up in front of everyone and took over. What a ham!

After Halloween, we spent some mellow time taking in some of the sights and just enjoying the unusually warm weather! It was such beautiful weather- around the early 70s. Here are some pictures of Keira and Max at the Riverwalk in Naperville. The Riverwalk was there back when I was in High School for a couple of years, but I just don't remember it being as beautiful as it really is. I don't know if they changed it any, or if I was just too dumb to notice how beautiful it is...probably the latter! LOL

Here was a structure built as a memorial for 9/11 at the Riverwalk. Max was taking a picture as well as you can see.

There were a few bridges along the river that we crossed to see the geese swimming around. The kids had a great time running along the edge of the water and back and forth on stairs. After this, we went to visit Chris' grave site. It still is so hard to believe that he is gone. I'm glad that we got a chance to visit.

We also got to take in Max's first basketball game of the season. Max's Uncle Jon (The Mocker of Star Wars ) is the coach and did a great job. I really thought that the kids were all so young and probably would just be running around not really knowing the game. BOY! I couldn't have been more wrong! It really was such an exciting game and the kids were fantastic! Max's team came back after being behind 18 points to tie the game at the last minute. Not too shabby considering that the other team looked like they were each about a foot taller than these kids. Size doesn't necessarily matter does it?

We spent some time at the Morton Arboretum where they had a beautiful children's garden. It is almost like a Children's Museum in a great outdoor setting. Max did such a great job with Keira! He was so patient and even though he looks kind of grumpy in this picture, they actually got along great!

Here he was helping her across some rocks. He was always helping her with everything and slowed down for her since she isn't quite as fast as he was. They truly adore each other which is wonderful.

We also went to the Children's Museum in Naperville. It really is a great hands on experience for the kids. So much for them to do and play with.

After about 5 days, we headed home. She did just as good on the flight home except for the fact that she got so engrossed in playing the Nintendo DS that she forgot to tell me that she had to go to the bathroom. She is pretty much potty trained except for naps and sleeping at night, but from what I hear, that takes some time.